May Kurt Gathering

We had a fairly spontaneous Kurt gathering in Dewitt on Sunday. Coincidentally, a bunch of the kids all called each other late last week and basically said, "We haven't gotten together in forever. We should hang out." And hang we did. We drove down to Kevin and Susan's, and, as you can see, Emily and Lola were already out cold.

Allie was probably the most excited to see her favorite uncle (me), whose name she can't remember. She asked to have this picture taken with me.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. In the tradition of Will's religion (and to block the sun) he wore his babushka .

It was great seeing Wilaca (who showed up this time). Will had all of the kids gathered around at his feet as he told stories of Quincy, his mother-in-law's cat, who has been in and out of the hospital.

Susan was in rare form. Not only was she the first to spill (no, that's not an outie belly button) and she just had a third breast removed from her back.

We were all very impressed at how Beth and Sherry coordinated their outfits to make sure that their tops and bottoms were complete opposites. Maddie's stylish glasses made the rounds as well, with Aunt Beth looking especially hip in them.

We took the opportunity to celebrate the birthdays of Myself, Emily, Allie, Ben and Drew. In true Kurt tradition, everyone jumped in the picture... Ben does not look amused.

This bag saw a lot of action. Pretty much every kid was stuffed in here at one point.

My brother Jon loved to roll (get it Jon, I said "roll"?) He got out and rolled around all over the lawn. This seemed dull after a bit, so we started trying to climb on it while the tractor was rolling to see how long it would take to hurt ourselves (check out the video here for the real action)

Kevin got a kick-ball game with all of the kids going, while the rest of us adults hung out, relaxed and enjoyed frothy, ice cold beverages.

Ben got this super cool helmet and gun. Susan shared that on Sunday night Ben said, "I have a prayer request. It's thank you for Jon getting me that storm trooper gun."

It's so much fun to see all of the cousins having so much fun together. Everyone genuinely loves hanging out - all of the Uncles and Aunts and Grandparents think the kids are a blast... You really don't have that one person who scowls at the kids or gets annoyed by them hanging out being kids (well, maybe Sherry).

Ben enjoyed hanging with Yola (Lola in Bender) and she kind of enjoyed hanging with him, but he kept a hold of her collar just to be safe.

You can see the rest of the pictures here.

Good Form Running Class

Kevin and I went last night to Playmakers in Okemos for the Good Form Running (GFR) Level 1 Clinic. The GFR Level 1 is a free course they offer and runs about 90 minutes. It was a fantastic course that I'd highly reccomend. If you're note familiar with Playmakers (they also own the New Balance store in Farmington Hills) it's a great store that while their shoes aren't cheap, they really know what they're doing around running and other sports and go the extra mile to make sure you've got the right gear.

The class was taught by the owner of the store (Curt) and two pro-athletes; one an ex-pro-cycler and another another an olympic mile runner. They started the class by giving a quick overview and then taking us outside and video taping us running. They then took us through some fundamentals of running around posture, foot-strike, arms and head position. We then watched some tape of running being done correctly, in particular, last year's summer olympics featuring one of the instructors (Grant, pictured on the left) running the mile (which he ran in a 3m37s!) along with a couple of Kenyons. From there we watched the video of as they pointed out what we were doing right and wrong. They spent the last 15 minutes by going through more detail on cadence and how to start incorporating these chagnes into your run. It was a great class, and it was free.

They've got a level two class which I'm signed up for. The class is taught by the same instructors but smaller (6 people) and involves my personalized instruction on the things they reviewed in the class.

What I really liked about the class was that the instructors didn't come at it as if they knew everything. They talked about how they figured this stuff out and the difference it had made in their lives and their running. Even the olympic runner talked about how bad his form was and the difference in terms of the ease of running and the wear and tear on his body since he'd improved his form.

In the class they talked about some of the benefits of running barefoot, and how people are using these five finger glove shoes to achieve the same effect without cutting the bottoms of their feet. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that, but it should be interesting to try incorporating all of this stuff into my running. I'm sure I'll be a mess for a while.

Easter with the Kurts

I know I'm a little bit late on this, so bear with me - I wanted to get these pictures online to share. We had a very nice easter that began with easter baskets and and easter egg hunt.

After church, we headed over to my Dad and Judy's house to say hi. The girls had made a drawn some pictures for my Dad (I think they were "Thank you in advance for our easter basket" cards), but my Dad forgot to do Easter Baskets for the kids. (Ackward!)

It was a beautiful day and we were able to get some nice family pictures outside.

My Dad entitled the picture below, "A picture with my favorite son"

From there we headed over to Cathie's parents to hang out with Mom, Dad, Cath's grandparents, brother and sister. The kids searched for their easter baskets

Emily loved seeing everyone, but especially justice. Justice is pretty sure he's people (probably has nothing to do with the fact that his "mom and dad" think so too).

As I took pictures, Emily continued to jump out in front of the camera (wonder where she got that trait), including this crazy picture below.

It was great seeing Cathie's grandparents, who are now in town.

It was a great time. Very low key, very nice. We hung out, had a great meal and then sat around talking... I probably even got a nap or two in at some point.

Em's Baby Bird

Emily found a robin egg outside yesterday and is determined to hatch the egg and become a birdy Mom. She's been carrying it around in these gloves, not only because of the germs, but to keep it warm like a Mom. We tried to explain the chances of the bird hatching are next to nothing. Emily's response, "Probably won't happen means that it might."

I came in to tuck Emily in last night and found her sleeping with a lamp on the egg to keep it warm; anything she can to hatch the bird.

There's a nest of baby bunnies next door, which Em is determined to rescue as well. Cathie joked this morning that Emily might have been switched at birth with Dana's kid based on how she wants to save every animal in the world.

Quite the Celebration of Dave's day of birth

What a great Birthday yesterday! I started my day with a million sticky notes that followed me around the house. Cathie knows me so well, and apparently I'm pretty predictable. Starting with in front of the mirror in my bathroom and then in front of the toilet at eye level, all the way through to the coffee cups, coffee, cream, running shoes, cell phone and bible. Each note had something nice to say and made me smile. What a great wife.

The kids and Cathie got me a slew of nice gifts, including a bunch of great stuff from Trader Joe's and a new universal remote, the Logitech Harmony 880 (my previous Harmony remote had died). The beauty of this remote is that once you get it setup on the web site, configuring any future model is as easy as plugging it into the computer and it will pull down all of it's settings.

Another cool thing on my birthday was the messages I received on facebook. I kid you not, I received over 100 happy birthday notes on facebook from a huge continuum of friends. Each one was the equivalent of getting a birthday card.

This was something that made me smile ear to ear. A friend of ours/junior high youth leader/youth group kid Katie Green left the following on my facebook wall:

Things to love about Dave Kurt:
-He is funnier than me (which is really rare)
-He can come up with a comeback to anything in .02 seconds
-He knows how to make anyone feel unconformable (in a good way!)
-His family is sweet, and he and his wife have done a wonderful job raising the kids.
-His ADD keeps things fun and interesting.
-He knows how to make people feel special.
-He loves God, and shows it through his kindness towards other people.
-He loves his dog Lola SO SO much, and wishes he could hear her bark 24/7.
-He is pretty talented on the BBQ.
-He is 38 years old today, and he STILL lives every week as if it were shark week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE KURT!
-Katie Green the Dancing Machine.

Relay for Life

As some of you know, Mom my died about 2 ½ years ago from Pancreatic cancer. I’m trying to do something about cancer by participating in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life event right here in my community. This might not sound like much. Frankly, I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into the first time when I did this last year. As I walked last year, the thought crossed my mind as to "why". Why was I walking around a track to stop cancer? In the beginning, it just seemed like something I could do to honor the memory of my Mom. Being there with her before she died and seeing her watch the survivor lap when she walked in the relay was a big deal and meant a lot to me, so I figured Relay for Life was a good place to start.

Come on: if you think about it for too long, walking in circles seems a bit silly. Hundreds of people were walking, hoping to do something about a disease with a ridiculous impact on people's lives. As my son and I walked, we talked about what he and I could really do to cure cancer. We aren't researchers, we aren't doctors, so we figured that about all he and I could do would be to raise awareness, raise money and love people with the disease. My son is smart. (He gets it from my wife). But still, walking seemed kind of insignificant for me against such a huge problem. Cancer is so big sometimes, it makes me feel small and helpless against it - just like poverty, famine and AIDS.

At about 9:30 in the walk, they had the luminary lap. All around the 1/4 mile track were paper-bag luminaries, each dedicated to a cancer survivor or in memory of someone who lost the battle. They killed all the lights on the track as the candles glowed, gave some time for reflection. They ended the time with a lap of silence, led by a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace, the same song the bagpiper played at my Mom's funeral. As I walked around the track thinking of my Mom's battle with cancer, my Dad's battle with cancer, the hugeness of the impact of this disease, and my Mom's death, I lost it and started sobbing. It was in that moment I think I really got why I was walking around a track. In the bigness of cancer, I could either be powerless against it, or I could walk, doing something is better than nothing. In my walking, somehow I figured out what I was walking and why I would do it again.

I remember walking in this with my Mom in the Relay for Life and what a huge deal it was then for her. For me, it was just walking with my Mom. Relay For Life is about celebration, remembrance, and hope. By participating, I am honoring cancer survivors, paying tribute to the lives we've lost to the disease, and raising money to help fight it.

I’m working to have two types of laps added to the Relay for Life (but not getting much support)

· The Taser Lap - where every team that does not have representation on track has to select one person to be zapped with a taser gun.

· The iPod Lap - Everyone wears an iPod and sings their song loudly as they walk around the track, oblivious to how bad they sound.

Please help support me in this important cause by making a donation. It is faster and easier than ever to support me by making a secure, tax-deductible donation online using the link below. If you would prefer, you can send your contribution to the mailing address listed below.

Whatever you can give will help - it all adds up! I really appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.

You can follow the event via my blog or via my twitter or via my iPhone RunKeeper system..

To make a donation online, visit the page for my whole family here

(Disclaimer: I’m sure that you give generously of your time, talents and resources in many places. Please feel no obligation either personally or professionally to donate to this).

The event is taking place in two weeks and basically involves myself, my family and my team walking for 24 hours to raise money.

Thanks in advance for your support! Feel free to call me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Fun Facts from Emily

Mom, did you know that Dodo birds have never seen a human and so they like to walk up to humans, bop them on the head and eat them for dinner...kind a like the the little bunny foo foo song.

-Emily

Miami Beach

We headed up from Key West to Miami, right on South Beach. Cathie and I had been in South Beach last year, but never really made it to the "Beach" part of "South Beach". It was a beautiful beach and very "European" (meaning that many of the women sunbathed topless).

Miami was a total 180 from Key West. It was about flash, money and beauty. We stayed right on the beach at the Doubletree. You can see the views from our room below:

Miami beach at night is wild. The restaurants try and lure you in, and lure you in they do with these giant drinks. These were seriously huge fish-bowls.

The buildings are such a cool Art-Deco look and feel.

We even headed out to one of the clubs, to say we'd been there. It was a wild scene, as you can see from the picture on the right. We felt a bit old and didn't know any of the music. Miami was a bit crazy, not really my style. I'll take Key West any day.

Thanks so much to my Dad, Judy and Cathie's parents for watching the kids! You guys were amazing and we wouldn't have been able to go on this trip without them taking care of the kids. The kids loved it and our parents had a great time too. Also thanks to Nicki and the Schultz's for watching our dogs!

Crazy Cat Guy

One of the highlights of the trip was Crazy Cat Guy (aka Dominique Lefort) at Mallory Square. He had cats do all sorts of odd tricks, which wasn't really the most amusing part of this. These cats would jump through hoops, through fire, walk across tightropes and jump over each other and on to him. What made him amusing was his crazy French accent as he'd yell the names of the cats (Oscaaar!) and his other odd sayings, "Huuurry Up. Taaake Your Time", “You can do eet!” ,“Eet’s all in your minnnd!” Beth can do a perfect impersonation of the guy. Just ask her.

The guy used to be a clown and used the island's stray cats as part of his act. I'm pretty sure he's just nuts, combined with the french aspect makes him one odd duck.




The thing is, he's compelling to watch. You just can't take your eyes off of him and then impersonate him throughout the night.